. >> chairman mullen is in afghanistan. he told our troops finite foogh there he didn't know the answer to when and where they would get paid. will the president insist that if there's a default, the troops will get paid? >> again, the treasury department -- by the way, whatever admiral mullen talked about, it's outrageous that here we are, 60 hours away from the united states of america potentially defaulting for the first time. and the reason we're here is that, particularly republicans in the house, but republicans generally had been unwilling to compromise. so, at the appropriate point, if we get to that point, the treasury department will lay out clearly for the american people, most importantly for investors, folks around the world, exactly what would happen if we default. >> i want to be clear on what the president would accept in terms of cuts, in the first stage or the second stage. in other words, that what's called in washington a trigger, which means that whatever force's congress's hand, if they don't continue